Techmeme: Touting Possible Benefits of Windows 7 Security (Matthew Hines/eWeek Security Watch)

9:15 AM ET, July 23, 2009

Top Items:

Sarah Lacy / TechCrunch:

Amazon Buys Zappos; The Price is $920m., not $847m. — News has just broken that Amazon.com has purchased hot ecommerce up-and-comer Zappos for 10 million Amazon shares or $880 million. (The Amazon release said it was $807 million, but that was based on a trailing 45-day estimate of its share price.

Discussion: TeleRead, i-boy, Guardian, 901am, Switched, Softpedia News, Gawker, BetaNews, internetnews.com, Mashable!, TheNextWeb.com and digg.com, Thanks:gsharma

Tony Hsieh / Zappos.com:

CEO Letter — Please set aside 20 minutes to carefully read this entire email. (My apologies for the occasional use of formal-sounding language, as parts of it are written in a particular way for legal reasons.) — Today is a big day in Zappos history. — This morning …

Alexander Haislip / PE Hub Blog:

Zappos CEO Wanted To Stay Independent, Sequoia Wanted Liquidity—Sources — The decision to sell hot online shoe retailer Zappos to Amazon.com was more in line with the interests of Sequoia Capital than the company's CEO, according to two sources close to the company.

Discussion: Screenwerk, Venture Capital Dispatch, TechFlash, MYBLOG by Ouriel and TechCrunch

Amazon.com:

Amazon.com to Acquire Zappos.com — Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) today announced that it has reached an agreement to acquire Zappos.com, Inc. a leader in online apparel and footwear sales that strives to provide shoppers with the best possible service and selection.

Marshall Kirkpatrick / ReadWriteWeb:
Getting the Goods: The New Amazon/Zappos Supply Chain Story

Thanks:phclouin

Brandon LeBlanc / The Windows Blog:

Windows 7 Has Been Released to Manufacturing — I am pleased to announce that Windows 7 has RTM'd! — As I mentioned previously, RTM officially happens only after sign-off occurs. What happens is a build gets designated as a RTM contender after going through significant testing and meeting our quality bar for RTM.

Sarahintampa / Channel 10:

An Easy Way to Create a Bootable USB Drive for Windows 7 — Earlier this year, Dennis Chung posted a video on TechNet Edge explaining how you could install Windows 7 using a bootable USB drive - a necessary step needed to install Windows 7 on a netbook PC. But for some people, those instructions were a bit too technical.

Discussion: MobileContentToday

Walter S. Mossberg / Personal Technology: For Some, Move To Windows 7 Will Be Tough

Mary Jo Foley / All about Microsoft:
They're soup: Windows 7, Server 2008 R2 released to manufacturing

Discussion: AustralianIT.com.au, The Windows Blog, Electronista, Ars Technica, Bits, Tech Broiler, IDG News Service, eWeek, WinBeta and ithinkdifferent

Larry Dignan / Between the Lines:

AT&T activates 2.4 million iPhones; Second quarter tops estimates — AT&T's second quarter earnings were better than expected courtesy of a strong launch of Apple's iPhone 3GS. — In the second quarter, AT&T activated 2.4 million iPhones, up 29 percent from a year ago and up 31.8 percent from the first quarter.

AT&T:

Strong Wireless Growth, Continued Cost Discipline, Solid Free Cash Flow Highlight AT&T's Second-Quarter Results — * $.54 diluted EPS compared with $.63 for the year-earlier second quarter and $.53 in the first quarter of 2009; incremental noncash pension/retiree benefit costs reduced second-quarter 2009 EPS …

Discussion: Local Mobile Search

Sam Oliver / AppleInsider:

AT&T quarterly earnings fall on cost of iPhone subsidy — AT&T's second quarter earnings beat Wall Street estimates, but still fell 15 percent year over year, as the highly successful launch of Apple's iPhone 3GS — a phone subsidized by AT&T — affected the company's bottom line.

Discussion: CNET News

Bryan Lamkin / Yodel Anecdotal:

Xoopit + Yahoo! Mail = Moving beyond that massive digital shoebox — If your email inbox is anything like mine, it's turned into a “digital shoebox” over the years. It's full of hundreds or maybe thousands of special photos that have been shared by close friends and family members, but they're not organized in any particular way.

Discussion: ChannelWeb, BoomTown, Softpedia News, paidContent, The Register, VentureBeat, Search Engine Journal, CNET News, WebProNews, MYBLOG by Ouriel, loose wire blog, GigaOM and TechCrunch

Jim Dalrymple / CNET News:

Apple releases new Final Cut Studio — Apple introduced on Thursday a new version of Final Cut Studio, the company's high-end video production suite. — The suite comes with six applications in all, including Final Cut Pro 7, Motion 4, Soundtrack Pro 3, Color 1.5, Compressor 3.5 and DVD Studio Pro 4.

Discussion: Macworld

Jim Dalrymple / CNET News:

Apple's Logic Studio audio suite includes major updates — Apple released on Thursday the next major version of Logic Studio, the company's suite of professional audio applications. — I've been using the new version for some time now and can say the new features will not only improve your workflow …

Discussion: Macworld and The Loop

Google Mobile Blog:

Layers of fun in Google Maps for mobile 3.2 — Just as the world itself can be viewed through many lenses, the latest version of Google Maps for mobile allows you to view many layers of information on your map at the same time. Layers make it easier and more useful to find and interact …

Discussion: Google LatLong, IntoMobile, VentureBeat, MobileContentToday and Google Maps Mania, Thanks:sinkercat

Ginny Mies / PC World:

Hands-On With the Samsung Mondi — Samsung's mobile Internet device has much to like, but it has flaws, too—both in performance and design. — Recommends — When I first got my hands on the WiMax-enabled Samsung Mondi back in April at CTIA, I was impressed by its slick design …

Discussion: SlashGear and WMPoweruser.com

Jenna Wortham / Bits:

Mobile Internet Use Shrinks Digital Divide — Quick: Picture an Internet aficionado, circa 1995. — The first image that comes to my mind is Dennis Nedry, the embryo thief in “Jurassic Park,” who met his untimely end facing down a dinosaur in a soggy mud pit.

Discussion: Pew Internet, CNET News, Tech Beat, MediaPost and internetnews.com

Ernesto / TorrentFreak:

Pirate Bay Founders Sue BREIN for Slander and Abuse — In an Amsterdam court this week, BREIN's lawyer argued that The Pirate Bay is responsible for millions of copyright infringements every day, and that the site should therefore be blocked to visitors from The Netherlands.

Discussion: p2pnet and Techdirt

Erica Ogg / CNET News:

Instant search comes to Splashtop — Computers loaded with Splashtop will soon be able to do very quick searches as soon as the pre-boot phase of the machine starts. — Starting in September, notebooks and Netbooks with Splashtop will have instant access to a search bar on the instant-on desktop …

Discussion: Computerworld

Ellen Messmer / Network World:

America's 10 most wanted botnets — Botnet attacks are increasing, as cybercrime gangs use compromised computers to send spam, steal personal data, perpetrate click fraud and clobber Web sites in denial-of-service attacks. Here's a list of America's 10 most wanted botnets …

Discussion: Liquidmatrix Security Digest and Slashdot

Rory Cellan-Jones / BBC:

Voice technology firm under fire — A UK firm that turns mobile messages into text faces questions over its privacy standards, technology and finances following a BBC investigation. — Spinvox's service aims to convert voice messages into text messages using advanced speech recognition software.

Discussion: dot.life, TechCrunch Europe, blogs.telegraph.co.uk and TheNextWeb.com

Ben Fritz / Company Town:

Video game publishers Microsoft, Ubisoft invading Hollywood's turf — For decades, Hollywood's relationship with video games has come down to one word: licensing. Game publishers have been licensing and adapting movies all the way back to 1984's “E.T.”, while studios started doing the opposite with 1993's “Super Mario Bros.”

Discussion: L.A. Times Tech Blog, Kotaku, VG247 and GamesIndustry.biz

David Berlind / InformationWeek:

Matt Mullenweg And Dries Buytaert Probably Separated At Birth — When it comes to open sourced content management platforms and their creators, there's no question about the celebrity status that WordPress and its young founder Matt Mullenweg have ascended to.

Gavin Clarke / The Register:

Microsoft opened Linux-driver code after ‘violating’ GPL — Traded credibility for kudos? — Microsoft was in violation of the GPL (General Public License) on the Hyper-V code it released to open source this week. — After Redmond covered itself in glory by opening up the code …

Discussion: Bill Snyder's blog, All about Microsoft, Microsoft Watch and Pass the Source

Saul Hansell / New York Times:

Daring to Dream of a Resurgent AOL — Shortly after Tim Armstrong took over as chief executive of AOL, he asked to see the list of business deals that were being negotiated. He saw 900 of them. — It was too many by far. “If you looked through the deal sheet, would you have been able …

Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:

Zivity Splits Employees, Execs, Venture Funding Into Two Companies — In a highly unusual transaction, Zivity, a venture funded adult content startup, has spun off the majority of its assets, employees and venture funding into a new company called Top Fans.

Matthew Hines / eWeek Security Watch:

Touting Possible Benefits of Windows 7 Security — Some security researchers are already predicting a noticeable shift in the landscape once Windows 7 is launched by Microsoft later this year and finds its way into users' hands over time. — It's impressive to consider how much Microsoft …

Globe and Mail:

Ericsson joins bidding war for Nortel — Another of the world's telecommunications giants has entered what has suddenly become a pitched global battle for the spoils of Nortel Networks Corp. NT-T — Sweden's Ericsson has tabled a $730-million (U.S.) bid for Nortel's wireless network division …

Discussion: Bloomberg, The Register, Reuters and IntoMobile

Jonathan Fildes / BBC:

Artificial brain ‘10 years away’ — Professor Markram said he would send a hologram to talk at TED in 10 years — A detailed, functional artificial human brain can be built within the next 10 years, a leading scientist has claimed. — Henry Markram, director of the Blue Brain Project, has already built elements of a rat brain.

Discussion: Fudzilla and Gizmodo

Mark Milian / L.A. Times Tech Blog:

Friendster founder on social networking: I invented this stuff [UPDATED] — Friendster founder Jonathan Abrams poses in front of the logo for his start-up company, Socializr, at a Lunch 2.0 event in 2007. Credit: Terry Chay … The millions of high school and college kids on Facebook probably …

Discussion: blackrimglasses and digg.com, Thanks:electricwaffles

Archived Page Info:

This is a snapshot of Techmeme at 9:15 AM ET, July 23, 2009.

View the current page or another snapshot:

Techmeme Sponsor Posts:

Meta:

Open Source AI: Available to all, not just the few — Meta's open source AI enables small businesses, start-ups, students, researchers and more to download and build with our models at no cost.

Zoho:

The crossroads of AI and SaaS — Enabling businesses of all sizes to build products in-house and disqualifying SaaS tools that are not AI-powered. In a span of just two years, AI has made a name for itself as the key driver for innovation.

Genesys:

Executive Insights: The Era of Contact Center AI Copilots — How AI copilots are transforming customer experience and agent performance.

Tribe AI:

Build AI products that matter — Tribe AI helps organizations rapidly deploy AI solutions that have real business impact. We bring together world class AI talent and tooling to drive differentiated results.

Sponsor Techmeme

Who's Hiring in Tech?